Lessons from a Toolbox
by ryder77
Summary: Two brothers, a broken window, and a toolbox. Set during the year between Stage 25 and Turn 1.


Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to Sunrise

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If there was one thing that Lelouch Lamperouge hated with every fiber of his being, it was a mess. His brilliant, systematic, orderly mind simply could not function properly if something around him -- no matter how little -- was out of place.

Lelouch himself was partly to blame for this mess, however. Rivalz had brought some champagne the evening before, and Shirley made to confiscate it. Being Rivalz's partner-in-crime in their chess excursions, the bottle was passed on to Lelouch. For some reason he froze a mere hair's breadth from catching the bottle, causing it to fly towards the window. Long story short: glass broke, and it was not just the bottle. Worse, the window was on the side of the clubhouse that the seasonal winds usually attacked during this time of year.

Of course he had thought about reporting it to the administration offices to have it fixed -- standard procedure and all that. It was, however, a weekend. Weekends meant that the offices were closed. Closed offices meant that there would be no action until they open. No action meant that the window would remain broken, letting the winds wreak havoc in that part of the clubhouse. That meant the mess would stay.

Nope. Lelouch Lamperouge would NOT have it stay another minute.

And so, the following morning, he decided on getting his hands dirty (he could always wash them later, after all) in an attempt at solving this disturbance in his daily life. Well, attempt to remedy it, at least, by boarding the broken portion up. His younger brother, Rolo, assisted him. It was a very basic arrangement, really: he did most of the work, his brother handed him whatever tools he needed. Simple enough, isn't it?

It was, but Lelouch did not seem to think so. After a while he thought his brother's movements were a little too... automatic. In the next moment, he decided to put this theory to the test.

"Hand me the hex keys, will you?" Rolo did as he was told and promptly handed the tool over -- just as he thought.

Lelouch sighed. It was time for a little chat.

"What would I need the hex keys for?" He registered the confusion in his younger brother's face.

"B-but," Rolo replied, "You asked me to hand it to you, Brother."

"That, I did," he answered, "But we're boarding up a window right now, and the hex keys don't have any real use."

"But you told me," Rolo replied, defensive. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"If I told you right now to swallow a nail, would you?" A faint feeling of nostalgia came at the mention of swallowing sharp objects, but the feeling disappeared as quickly as it came. He would not dwell on it, his little brother came first.

"Rolo," he began again as he left his working space to face his brother fully, "has something been bothering you?"

"Nothing," Rolo quickly replied as he looked away, "Nothing at all."

Lelouch frowned, unconvinced. He was aware that his brother had a hard time making friends in school, and wondered if it had begun to affect the boy's self-confidence. He had been in that awkward stage himself not long ago, and he knew how secretive sixteen-year-olds could get. For that reason he would not pry. However...

"You know you can speak your mind around me, don't you?"

"W-what?"

"If you do only what you're told to do, you're no different from those tools you're handing me. Look, I may be older than you, but I can still make mistakes. If you're sure something's wrong, speak up; I'll hear you out. If you're not so sure, you can always ask."

At that, Rolo looked down at his feet, apparently unsure how to respond, and Lelouch wondered if he went too far with what he said. People who were naturally shy should be gradually coaxed out of their shells, after all, not forcibly pulled out. Lelouch's assessment was only partly correct, though.

Rolo was not responding because he was never asked to express himself before. _The mission is top priority,_ he was taught, so he always followed orders, absolutely, with no questions asked. Thinking for himself jeopardized missions, so he learned early on to keep his thoughts to himself. His current mission was to pose as younger brother to Lelouch Lamperouge. He had admitted that he didn't know what it was like to be a part of a family, but since those were his orders he followed them without question. His 'mission', however, had just ordered him to speak his mind. What was he supposed to--

"Hey," Lelouch said as he put a hand on Rolo's head, interrupting the latter's thoughts, "We're brothers, aren't we?"

_It's something that brothers do._

At Rolo's nod, Lelouch affectionately ruffled the former's hair and both returned to their work.

Those who knew Lelouch Lamperouge and were aware of his skill (or lack of skill) when handling matters that require physical exertion would probably wonder whether or not he could finish this job without a hitch. They would not be disappointed to know that, at around this moment, his less-than-practiced hammering skills caused a nail to bend, making it impossible for it to be hammered in the rest of the way.

"Hand me the crowbar, please," he told Rolo, and was surprised when he was handed the pliers instead.

"You don't have enough room to use a crowbar, Brother," Rolo explained when Lelouch sent him a questioning look. "Besides, the nail isn't even buried that deep. You can pull it out with those, I think." He let out a breath when Lelouch sent him a smile of approval, and they continued in this fashion until the work was done.

Speaking one's mind: it was among the things that brothers did, so it was now part of his mission. While with Lelouch, whenever the situation called for it, he would speak his mind, and only during those times. He was still the fake brother, after all, and fake he would remain until the mission's end. He didn't mind this little addition to his list of duties, however. In fact, he rather liked it.

The sense of freedom it brought -- it wasn't fake.

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**Author's notes:** I started this long before the picture drama came out. What took me so long to finish was trying to decide what would need fixing in the clubhouse since, well, it's Lelouch :p So, for the longest time this thing was studded with find-and-replace markers for what needed fixing, which tools are 'wrong', and which tools are 'right'. Hope it's believable and enjoyable enough.

Beta-reading credits go to Lord Bear and VNEpic.  
...and I probably am doomed to write fluff ;_;


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